Home Dialysis News

Home Dialyzors United has named two new members, both home dialyzors, to its board of directors. HDU is a non-profit patient organization dedicated to home dialysis. HDU's main focus is advocating and supporting those on home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis modalities, and all patients and care partners who are  interested in obtaining more information about home dialysis. (Read also: In Australia, the government buys into home dialysis)

Intensive dialysis treatments in pregnant women with kidney failure lead to a higher proportion of live births than standard dialysis care, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. The findings suggest that more frequent and longer dialysis sessions should be considered for dialysis patients of childbearing age who want to become pregnant or who are already pregnant.

ATLANTA – When The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services introduced the End-Stage Renal Disease Program payment bundle in 2011, it included a three-month handicap for providers who started dialysis patients on in-center hemodialysis. To say it another way, it was really a three-stroke lead for providers who started patients on home dialysis.

This article is part of a special supplement published by Nephrology News & Issues in the February 2014 issue entitled, "Iron therapy and a quarter century of ESAs: What have we learned?"

ATLANTA––We have to assume that organizers of the 34th Annual Dialysis Conference didn’t anticipate the risk of ice storms when they selected this city last year as their host for the 2014 conference. The meeting ended on Tuesday, just one day before hundreds of flights out of the city’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were cancelled by major airlines due to cold weather and snow in the typically mild South (Next year, the conference is in late January in New Orleans).

Nipro Medical Corporation has received 510(K) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Elisio Polynephron single use, high-flux, hollow-fiber dialyzer. The Elisio features a Polynephron membrane similar in function to that of a human kidney, and delivers excellent biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and solute-removal performance, resulting in superior clearances for better patient outcomes, according to a news release from Nipro.

Dialysis Clinic Inc. will acquire Troy. N.Y.-based Hortense and Louis Rubin Dialysis Center, the dialysis providers said in a news release. Terms of the pending transaction were not disclosed.

ATLANTA – NxStage Medical Inc. introduced a new patient outreach campaign at the Annual Dialysis Conference, called NxStage Plus One. The campaign aims to increase awareness of home hemodialysis through a series of activities and events focused on encouraging NxStage patients to share their experiences with other end-stage renal disease patients.  The campaign is designed to bring existing and potential ESRD patients together based on the premise that one-to-one communication is the most compelling way to learn about the benefits of home hemodialysis and support one another in coping with their chronic disease, NxStage said in a statement.

The nonprofit Medical Education Institute has released a free, web-based decision aid to help people with chronic kidney disease choose which type of dialysis will be the best fit for their lifestyles and health values. My Life, My Dialysis Choice is in beta testing mode, and MEI is encouraging community input from consumers and professionals. Feedback can be submitted on each page, and MEI said it compile and analyze comments before a final version is released and tested. A transplant section of the tool and a conservative management without dialysis section are intended for the future, MEI said in a release.

The nephrology nursing track at the Annual Dialysis Conference, directed by Leonor Ponferrada, BSN, RN, offers sessions for the subspecialties of peritoneal and home hemodialysis, as well as for pediatric nursing. This year’s Barbara Prowant Lectureship will be given by Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP/PMHNP, FNAP, FAAN, an internationally recognized speaker, humorist, health care professional and author who has provided enlightening and entertaining programs. Her topic is, “Igniting evidence-based practice in nursing and health care: Key strategies for success.” She is the dean of the college of nursing and associate vice president for health promotion and chief wellness officer at Ohio State University. She is an internationally recognized expert in evidence-based practice.